Police fired teargas and live rounds to disperse protesters in Nigeria's two main cities today at the start of a general strike over fuel prices in the world's eighth largest oil exporter.
Police battled striking members of the umbrella Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on the streets of Lagos and the inland capital of Abuja, after they defied a court order to launch the strike over a more than 50 per cent rise in petrol prices.
Police fire lived rounds in the air to disperse a large group chanting anti-government slogans around burning tyres in the middle of a major street.
State radio said President Olusegun Obasanjo would meet NLC leaders later today to try to halt the strike that many Nigerians fear could trigger violence in Africa's most populous country.
NLC President Mr Adams Oshiomhole, who spearheaded a similar petrol-price strike in 2000 that led to violence and scores of deaths, said he could not predict what would happen.
It was not clear how the stoppage might affect exports of Nigeria's more than two million barrels per day of crude, as the two oil unions appeared split on how far they wanted to go.
The price of gasoline was raised on June 20 to 40 naira (about 31 US cents) a litre from 26 naira (about 20 US cents), a rise which angered many Nigerians who see low petrol prices as the only benefit they get from their country's oil wealth.
The government said the strike was illegal because of a court order banning the protests. It also said workers who stayed at home would lose pay for days not worked.